Lynn Bergeson, managing partner of Bergeson & Campbell PC, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm that specializes in chemical and pesticide regulations, told Bloomberg BNA this is good news for the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Office, which oversees both chemicals and pesticides.

The OMB did not recommend any cuts to either the chemicals or pesticides offices, she said.

That gives the EPA flexibility. Given the Trump administration's priorities, the agency could choose surgical cuts in the budgets and staff within the air and water offices, while ensuring the chemicals and pesticides program have the resources they need to function, Bergeson said.

Both the chemicals and pesticides office are starved for staff right now, given the attrition that occurs at the end of every administration, she said.

Cuts in the chemicals program are not sustainable if the EPA is to deliver the enhanced chemical oversight Republicans and Democrats approved when they amended the Toxic Substances Control Act in 2016, Bergeson said.